Arn Anderson reflected on the WCW debut of Rey Mysterio Jr. at the Great American Bash in 1996 during the latest episode of the ARN podcast. Mysterio, then 21 years old, wrestled Dean Malenko in a match that Anderson remembers vividly. Anderson was quick to praise Malenko, stating he was the perfect, and often overlooked, dance partner for Mysterio’s revolutionary style.
Malenko And Mysterio
“As soon as the bell rang, look, it was the first time I saw him. He’s walking around backstage. He looked 12 years old,” Anderson recalled. “Tony Young, you know, talking about how excellent his work was. Somebody was on the other end of that, and Dean Malenko will never get the due that he should, because he man could, God, some of the stuff that Dean could do, some of the catches that he did with Rey, just old Lucha style. I’d never seen it, and to see it firsthand and by two of the best that ever lived, and I was just sitting there with my jaw on the ground, or who would even, who can sit down and talk with another guy in this business and come up with, actually, picture what we’re talking about here. Here’s what I’d like to do, and when it’s done, you go, can’t do that. Boy, they did it.”
The Greatest Luchador
When asked if he considers Mysterio the greatest luchador of all time, Anderson was definitive.
“No doubt,” he stated. “But you know what the art form that made him so believable and credible, he didn’t mow anybody down, he didn’t knock anybody down. Chopped him down. So he made up for the fact that Rey was five feet tall, maybe 140 pounds, but he did everything he did to get a guy off his feet. Made perfect spin, made perfect sense, and it wasn’t he was steamrolling anybody which were the audience, sort of dumped all over that. He just chipped down, chipped down, finally did enough that he got him on one leg, and that’s when he knocked him on their ass.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit ARN with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can listen to the podcast every week at AdFreeShows.com.
